Teairra Mari’s story went from fairy tale to forgotten tale in less than 12 months. Once upon a time heralded the ‘princess of the Roc’, 2005 saw Mari making her way onto the charts with ‘Make Her Feel Good’ – the thumping summer grown woman anthem. The then 17-year-old sang the commanding lyrics with a ‘Miss Thang’ conviction that would even make Monica proud. But even with all the promise and supposed support from then-mentor Jay-Z, Mari slowly found herself fading behind the chart success of wicked label-sister Rihanna. The latter, who was capitalizing off the then declining Caribbean craze sweeping the charts (see: Sean Paul, Elephant Man, etc), saw instant out-of-the-box success – interestingly with less visible support from shared mentor Jay-Z.
As both singer’s second singles from their debut albums failed to make much noise on charts, it seemed both were headed down the road to obscurity. That is, until 2006 saw a revamped Rihanna – more sex appeal, bigger budgets, stronger support. On the other hand, those who waited for a remixed Mari…waited.
…and waited. Mari finally reappeared in the late 2000s with the single ‘Hunt 4 U’, which failed to capture much attention the charts. Since then, Mari has become the mixtape queen; releasing song after song with no real response. Even when things appeared to look up after she scored high profile rapper assistance with singles ‘Cause a Scene’ (featuring Flo-rida) and ‘Sponsor’ (featuring Soulja Boy), Mari still failed to manage anything more than a briefly bated buzz.
Regardless of taste, one has to admit that all three singles from Mari’s unreleased sophomore album were quite commercially viable. Even in a musical landscape dominated by electro-Pop, the disregard of Mari’s music is surprising given the number of releases (visuals and audio) the singer has amassed over the last 2 years. However, this week Mari may have found her prince charming in label-head, producer Rico Love after word spread about the singer’s recent record label relocation to Love’s imprint ‘Division 1’ (Universal motown). Alas, we will all have to stay tuned to find out how that story ends.
So, That Grape Juice wants you to weigh in: Teairra Mari – Product vs. Promotion?
Is her product just not commercial enough for success (given the musical climate)? Or have Mari’s musical endeavors suffered marketing mishaps? Does she actually have a chance this go round?